AbiliTech

The voice is an instrument - a complex, amazing, beautiful instrument.

Like all instruments, it can be divided into three components - the action, the sound and the resonators.

Let's look at each in turn:

1. Action (or Power)

Something needs to happen before any sound can be made. In a piano, it's the muscles of the arm and hand bringing the fingers into contact with the keys. In a violin, it's the bow being drawn across the strings. In the voice, the action that starts it all is the movement of breath. Without breath flow, there can be no sound. In simple terms, singing is done by breathing out.

When you breathe in, the lungs fill with air and the contents of your abdomen (stomach, intestines, organs etc - known as the 'viscera') move down to allow the lungs the space they need to fill. As the viscera compress, you'll feel it as a slight outward bulge around your waist area.

For normal (passive) breathing eg when you're sitting, reading, watching TV etc, the compression in the viscera is sufficient to push the lungs back upwards as they deflate towards their resting position. This is a perfectly natural cycle and happens without you thinking about it.

For active (performance) breathing, eg when you're running, swimming or singing, you need to increase the breath flow. To do this, you need to employ the abdominal muscles below the viscera (the 'waistband' muscles) to help push the viscera and lungs back to their resting positions. To find where these muscles are, try saying 'vvvvvvv' energetically - you'll feel the abdominal muscles pull backwards towards the spine.

And that's all you need to worry about breathing! Sure, you'll read or be told about 'intercostal breathing', but the intercostal muscles (the muscles of the rib cage) are always involved in breathing - you don't need to ask them to do their job!

2. Sound (or Source)

Sound is transmitted through the air via sound waves. Sound waves are set in motion by vibration. So, to put it simply, to make sound, something has to vibrate. In a piano, a violin or guitar, it's the strings that vibrate. In a clarinet, it's a reed. And in the voice it's the vocal cords or vocal folds, those tiny (12 -25 mm long) elastic membranes that sit on top of the windpipe.

The vocal folds control the in and out flow of the breath. The Power (breath) supplies breath pressure, but the folds determine whether or not the breath is released - if the folds are fully opened, breath moves freely; if they're fully closed, the breath cannot move.

If the folds are opened just slightly then the passing breath draws them into vibration. The number of times a second they open and close determines the pitch of the note (eg 440 times per second is A above middle C) Pitch is determined by the length, mass (see below) and tension of the vocal folds.

The folds are able to vibrate in a number of ways - using some or all of their thickness. The amount of vocal fold 'body' involved helps to determines volume and timbre. Taking control of this gives you a choice over the sound you make - from a thin, breathy 'falsetto' sound, through a quiet but intense sound, to a full-bodied (literally!) loud sound. In the past, these sounds may have been categorised as 'head' and 'chest' sounds, but they're all made by the vocal folds, so are much better described as Thick or Thin sounds.

Allow the breath to move past the folds and simply control the amount of body you want to be drawn into vibration - that's all you need to know about making the sound!

3. Resonators (or Filter)

The basic sound made by the vibrating mechanism is fairly thin and raspy. All instruments 'filter' this sound by allowing it to pass through resonators. The shape and length of these resonators determine the final sound that is heard - a piano doesn't sound like a guitar, a violin doesn't sound like a clarinet, and an adult male doesn't sound like a young girl.

If you think about your body, you'll realise that the sound made by the vocal folds is made in the throat (which contains the larynx or 'voice box') Your resonators are therefore all above that ie in the upper throat (the pharynx) and mouth.

The shape and length of your resonators (your vocal tract) is largely determined by nature, but you do have some control over it. For example, you can alter the overall length of the tract by either moving the larynx higher and lower or by protruding or spreading the lips. In both cases, the longer tract will give a darker resonance and the shorter tract will give a brighter resonance.

You may have heard about 'head' and 'chest' resonance (as opposed to 'voice' as described above) and be wondering how they fit in to this. It's true that you could allow some of the sound into your nasal (or 'head') sinuses, but that would make the resulting sound too nasal and would really only be suitable for character voices. And the chest is clearly below the sound source, so it can't act as a resonator.

How to sing - in simple terms!

Use the abdominal muscles to create breath pressure, allow this breath pressure to draw the vocal folds into vibration - controlling the thickness and length to get the desired sound and pitch - and then shape the vocal tract to create the resonance (or 'timbre') you want.

Simple, isn't it?!

Andy Follin is a Certified Master Teacher of Estill Voice Training, based in the North West of England. As the only CMT in the area, Andy is uniquely placed to help both speakers and singers who wish to understand and control their voice.

His website Vocal Skills is a great resource for those looking to learn how to sing or to take singing lessons in Manchester and the surrounding area.

His Voice FAQ section aims to answer some of the most common topics including 'How to Belt a musical number' and 'What are head voice and chest voice?'

Check it out to get the vocal skills you want and need - take your voice and your career seriously.

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